A potentially stupid but relevant question as I'm just getting my feet wet in the consulting arena: does discipline matter at all when it comes to this doubling/tripling of day job rate formula?
does discipline matter at all when it comes to this doubling/tripling of day job rate formula?
Yes, but you may find it is more favourable (sometimes much more favourable) not to let yourself be pigeonholed as a certain kind of worker at all. Where possible, I'd recommend presenting your offer in terms of value it generates for your client, the way another business would rather than the way an employee would. Angle for them to be interested in results and not in any particular skills or technologies you use to achieve those results, and you change the way the discussion is framed.
However, this advice comes with the caveat that presenting things that way isn't always possible. Many clients really are looking for a certain skill set to fit in with an existing team, and you can make decent, if usually unspectacular, money with that kind of gig too. In that case, ideally you want to offer a credible rate but one toward the high end of the spectrum for your market, which brings us back to "yes".
If by discipline you mean "type of work" then no, it doesn't matter. If by discipline you mean "self-discipline", ie. "how much time you actually spend working in a day" then it does matter, with the caveat that clients pay for results, not time-in-chair.
Sorry for the confusion. I meant the former, as in my case, search marketing (SEO/inbound marketing) vs. programming. Most people I know working full-time in search don't approach the salaries/rates that developers make and speaking broadly, I know a lot of skills translate better in consulting than others do.
That said: bottom line is that I should be charging a lot more than I am now. :)
Yes, but you may find it is more favourable (sometimes much more favourable) not to let yourself be pigeonholed as a certain kind of worker at all. Where possible, I'd recommend presenting your offer in terms of value it generates for your client, the way another business would rather than the way an employee would. Angle for them to be interested in results and not in any particular skills or technologies you use to achieve those results, and you change the way the discussion is framed.
However, this advice comes with the caveat that presenting things that way isn't always possible. Many clients really are looking for a certain skill set to fit in with an existing team, and you can make decent, if usually unspectacular, money with that kind of gig too. In that case, ideally you want to offer a credible rate but one toward the high end of the spectrum for your market, which brings us back to "yes".